


Beautiful in the Rain

by Kintatsujo



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Final Fantasy References, Gen, M/M, Suicidal Ideation, Swearing, descriptions of manual labor, longplay adaptation, yeah the player CHARACTER is a man but the actual player is generally a woman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-02 10:03:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17262227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kintatsujo/pseuds/Kintatsujo
Summary: Jesse wasn’t ENTIRELY sure how he’d gone from depressed in a dead end job to determinedly pursuing a guy who didn’t even like him in a small town that time hadn’t QUITE forgot-- but he wasn’t actuallycomplaining.AKA I got Stardew Valley for Christmas and now I'm writing an adaptation of my play as I get time.  Will update as I either get time to play or time to write, so we'll see how this goes, lol





	Beautiful in the Rain

**Author's Note:**

> I'm largely rating this "teen and up" because of the swearing because I know perfectly well all you kids say the fuckword all the time. Also because of that suicidal ideation thing and the bare POSSIBILITY of slightly sexy stuff that may not even show up until Chapter 30 because I suck at this game XD
> 
> Liberties have been taken where I felt like taking them.
> 
> [Art of the character](https://www.deviantart.com/golden-dragon-girl/art/Jesse-And-Philip-778649616)

Jesse hadn't even known that his grandfather had HAD a farm. Neither had his dad, actually, when Jesse called to ask about it, and it baffled him that Grandpa would have just left it to his grandson in a letter while actively telling him not to open it until he felt like he needed a change. Jesse had honestly been expecting a treasure map or something; after all, he'd apparently contracted the illness that had brought him to living with Jesse's parents twelve years ago from too many run ins with malboros in the wilderness.

Well, it WAS directions to a treasure, Jesse thought, absorbing the green hills that slid by, the bus window cold against his cheek. Just not the sort he'd expected. Already the tight anxiety in his chest seemed to be loosening at the sight of all that green.

He wondered what it was that had led Grandpa to leave the farm to HIM, specifically. It wasn't like either of his siblings would have been any less competent, after all, they'd probably have been more so; he'd been fifteen and stupid when Grandpa had died a year after arriving at his parents’, while his sister had already been engaged to be married at eighteen and his brother was…. Well, his brother. Even now, at twenty six, Jesse felt like he was barely attached to reality.

Then again maybe Grandpa had foreseen that Jesse wouldn't be cut out for the grind of the city machine. He thought of Howard, and JoJa Co, and his jaw ached. Six YEARS in that dead end… yeah, he needed this.

The bus pulled up to the Pelican Town stop and groaned to a halt. Jesse swung his bag- a fat old green rucksack that held about two weeks’ worth of button up shirts, underthings, and a week's worth of red slacks- down from the carriage and over his shoulder, and inched his way off the bus, waving goodbye to the sole other passenger, a manly looking guy who seemed to be heading to Calico Desert. Said apparent adventurer looked back at him like he'd smelled something awful.

Eh, fair enough, probably. Jesse knew his first sight impression came across as a bit of a dandy pansy with the hip length blonde hair and willowy build. Still, it wasn't especially POLITE. He couldn't HELP being built like he'd just crossed the bishonen line, and the hair wasn't anybody else's business.

He was greeted off the bus by an attractive woman with pretty red hair who introduced herself as Robin, town carpenter. “Mayor Lewis sent me to fetch you,” she said, beaming.

“Mayor Lewis seems a bit involved,” Jesse answered, twisting his eyebrows. His dad had called Pelican Town about a week ago just to confirm that SeeGarten Farm actually existed, but Jesse hadn't expected a welcome mat.

“Oh, it's not that often we have a new person in town,” Robin dismissed with a wave. “And he and your grandfather were friends, so.” She smiled, and that seemed to be that.

“Did you know my grandfather, then?” Jesse followed after her at a power walk, adjusting his bag.

“Not especially well,” Robin answered. “But he was very kind to me when I was struggling with being a single mother about twenty years ago.”

Jesse goggled, struck dumb. He'd have clocked her as being about thirty.

Robin led him to a little cabin not far from the bus stop. “Here we are!” she cheered. “SeeGarten farm.”

Jesse looked around. “Good gods,” he said. He could barely see the riverways through the grass and rocks and haphazard trees. “It's a mess.” It looked less like a farm and more like a backwoods, actually.

“Oh, don't be that way,” Robin chuckled. “I'm sure you'll have it whipped into shape in no time.”

The way she was snickering, Jesse could tell she was making fun of him, but he straightened up under his rucksack anyway. Manual labor would be a good thing, right? His therapist HAD kept telling him to get more exercise. And he'd come because it had seemed like a better plan than sinking down and dying. He'd work with it.

The door of the cabin opened and an older gentleman stepped out onto the porch. “Ah, Robin, good morning,” he said, mustache bristling warmly. “This must be our man-- Jesse, right?”

“That's right, sir,” Jesse answered, accepting the man's offered handshake. “Are you Mayor Lewis?”

“The same.” Lewis smiled at him paternally. “It's good to meet you, my boy, your grandfather told me he'd be leaving the farm to you, said you were an earnest kid.” Jesse returned the smile uncomfortably. Had he really. Lewis continued, “I was just tidying the house a bit in anticipation of your arrival; it's not much right now, Sten had never been much for material comfort, but I found you a mostly new TV and some clean sheets, and some decent enough tools.”

“Thank you, sir,” Jesse said, hushed. This was. Really much more than he'd expected.

“It's worth it to see that the place finally has someone again,” Lewis responded, waving dismissively much like Robin had before. “Here's a shipping box; if you have anything to sell put it in here and I'll see it gets picked up overnight, and leave the income through the door slot for you.”

THAT was certainly more direct than Jesse was used to. He liked it. “Yes sir. Thank you so much.”

“It's just Lewis,” the mayor answered him, eyes crinkling. “Good luck with your new farm.”

=o=

Lewis had basically charged him with introducing himself around town, so after clearing a patch by the house for a small garden Jesse set out to buy seeds and try meeting people. He introduced himself to the shopkeeper and his wife, bumped into their daughter Abigail on the way out (and wasn't SHE just adorable) ran into Robin's obviously not-quite-twenty daughter Maru in the town square (huh) a pretty blonde girl named Haley that kept giggling at him, and, as he headed south toward the beach, an alarmingly gorgeous man that introduced himself as Elliot. (He also got randomly yelled at by Pam the out of work bus driver for unclear reasons. Jesse loved her already, she was clearly a disaster.)

He headed into the tackle shop. Jesse had this vague awareness that some of his ancestors were fishermen and was somewhat curious about it; he did not expect a free fishing pole and a free lesson in dancing one's line.

“There now,” Willy the Fisherman chortled, handing him his sunfish and smelling of salt, “you're a natural, son.”

“I'm pretty sure it was luck and you grabbing the line to fix my fuck-ups, Mr Willy,” Jesse answered with a dry smile. “But thank you very much for the pole.”

“Don't mention it, just use it well.”

Well, SeeGarten Farm WAS set in a capillary. Doing some fishing was probably a good idea.

He headed back to the farm to plant his seeds and try to clear a little more debris before nightfall.

Gods, just wading through the grass as it brushed his hips filled him with unspeakable delight; Jesse almost hated the thought of cutting it. He was gonna do it, though. Clearing up the rocks around the little shrine outside his house seemed like a good idea too. Jesse's arms burned and his face was flushed after breaking just a few, but it felt good so he pushed onto the little island just northeast of the entryway peninsula. His hair clung to his neck and face, and Jesse made a mental note to start pulling it back.

… This island held a different kind of shrine, a much larger one. His grandfather's name was carved into the legend. Jesse stared.

Who had set this up? Grandpa had called this farm the place he truly belonged, but nobody in the family had known it existed until he'd opened that letter, hoping to find a good reason not to just jump off the top floor of the Joja Co offices next chance he had.

It must have been Lewis, Jesse thought with a swell of affection. They must have been close, or at least Lewis was the kind of loving man that made sure people were taken care of.

…. Not TOO taken care of, he added to himself sarcastically, and started cleaning up the rocks and overgrowth.

He pulled the weeds closest to the shrine by hand, so as not to risk damaging it, wrapping the hard lines of stems around his arm twice to spare his hands a bit, feeling them bite into his skin as he got his feet under himself and pulled upward. Jesse spent enough time wrestling with the grass, muscles straining when he hit particularly stubborn roots and trying to ignore the sharp line of pain threatening along his shoulder, that it was almost dark when he realized there was more writing along the base.

Jesse stood, and, reading it, took a sharp breath.

“... What the fuck kind of shitty joke is this,” he said finally.

Grandpa would “return to evaluate the farm.” Yup, sure, okay. “Good luck with that, Gramps,” Jesse muttered. Probably a vandal trying to make ghost stories.

Bewildered and annoyed, Jesse washed his hair and face in the river and trudged back to the cabin to fall into bed.

=o=

He awoke to darkened windows and a gentle - _tappataptap_ \- and realized it was raining.

Well, that was fine. He wouldn't have to water today, although Jesse nervously hoped the rain was gentle enough not to outright wash his seeds out of the earth. He stretched, ate some of the forage he'd found the day before, and rearranged his furniture. The wooden table was surprisingly light, especially considering he was still sore from the day before.

This only took him until about 8 AM, so he ventured out into the gentle rain, checking on his seeds before heading into town. Looked like they were doing okay so far.

It wasn't surprising that nobody was out. He did venture over far enough to be aware of the Jojamart but didn't go in- had spent enough time in Jojamarts back in the city to know generally what they carried and was still feeling too raw about his old life- paid Lewis and a couple of other people a visit, discovered that the bar wasn't open.

“Maybe it's a good time to try some fishing,” Jesse murmured, heading to the pier and heedless of the rain. Honestly it was so light it was barely hitting his back through his hair and he was a little surprised at the townsfolk for being such wimps about it.

He needed some more practical footwear, gods, wet sand was so gross.

Jesse settled himself down outside the tackle shop after buying a bowl of soup from Willy for lunch and cast his line.

Aaaand cast his line again.

Aaaand got a bite and promptly lost it.

And cast his line again.

And caught some seaweed.

And caught some trash.

And caught some algae.

And lost another fish.

How long had he been fucking doing this? Jesse wound his line in some frustration and stood. Looked like he'd been right about Willy's help that first time, sheeesh.

This was when he realized he was no longer alone on the pier. Jesse jumped as he noticed the figure out of the corner of his eye, then turned to stare at the other boardwalk.

Yup. That was a man over there, gazing broodily out over the sea. Definitely not an apparition of any kind. Although between the dark hair hanging in his face and the dark clothes, Jesse thought he could be forgiven for having been startled by a shadowy figure in the rain.

Well…. Lewis HAD said to introduce himself to EVERYONE, hadn't he?

Jesse trotted gamely around the pier and down the other boardwalk, slowing as he approached the wraithlike figure. Then he found himself pausing.

The man looked to be about his own age, maybe a little younger, although of course he'd been very wrong about a number of people's ages so far (what was in the WATER here). He cut a slender figure, black cloth clinging to him in the damp, and his off center hairstyle reminded Jesse of people he'd see around clubs and bars back in the city, cradling guitars and nursing one beer all night.

He was rather handsome, and looked painfully melancholic.

“Hello?” Jesse said, tentative, and saw him startle. “Sorry. I'm Jesse, I'm the new farmer that's just taken over SeeGarten. Mayor Lewis said to introduce myself around, and I hadn't seen you, so,” Jesse trailed off and gestured vaguely, realizing he was in danger of sliding into a ramble.

The man stared at him, perhaps a little searchingly. His eyes were a dark blue.

“I'm Sebastian,” he said softly. He didn't offer anything else on the matter, instead turning back to the ocean. “The ocean is best enjoyed alone, don't you think?”

Was that. Was that a snub? Was this pretty ass edgelord being _passive aggressive_  with him?! Jesse was quite sure that was what had just happened.

He was going to befriend the HELL out of this poor man. Jesse grinned. “It's definitely beautiful in the rain, although I was a bit distracted by you,” he said, and caught a flash of surprise in Sebastian's face. “I'll leave you to it, I've got a lot to do yet, but I hope I see you around.” Sebastian was full on staring at him as he swung the fishing pole over his shoulder. Jesse imagined he looked ridiculous, and he didn't care. He tipped an imaginary hat. “Ciao for now.”

Yup. Jesse hit the sand at a trot. That had been An Encounter.

He spent the rest of the day cutting down trees in the rain.

**Author's Note:**

> I put Stardew Valley on my wishlist because I recognized it's that "nearly nothing but sidequests" sort of thing that I've always really enjoyed, but I'd had NO IDEA it was actually going to clock me upside the head with a childhood nostalgia I'd forgotten I had. Unlike SV Jesse, who's a city boy, real world Jessi actually grew up on what I'm going to call an "amateur farm" of about eight acres (in other words not that differently sized from the farm in game). Our neighbor had chickens and cows, and we had pigs, a large garden with things like corn and green beans, and we had an orchard and some grapevines. My mother used to sell the things she grew in a wheelbarrow by the side of the road, just leaving stuff out there with a can for money. I have a particularly strong memory of carrying produce around in the billows of my skirts (and apparently that was why I even asked Mom to make that dress).
> 
> We also had around thirty cats at one point although that was when I was an older teenager/young adult.
> 
> So I don't exactly have the perspective of a person who grew up on a COMMERCIAL farm coming to this game but I DO have the perspective of someone more familiar with real farm life than the average Stardew Valley player likely does. I let SV Jesse be a city boy, though, because some of the dumb shit I pulled from fumbling with the game mechanics are EXACTLY dumb city boy things to do.
> 
> (I also have the perspective of someone who felt trapped in a dead-end job for ten years so the origin of the player character obviously strongly resonates there.)
> 
> The name I chose for my farm, SeeGarten, means something like "river farm" or "garden by the sea" depending on which Germanic language you're asking; I actually chose the river farm SO I could name my farm that. You'll know why if you're familiar with me and happened to have read either of my original comics. (...I'll say it upfront it's from my Extremely Danish surname.)
> 
> Anyway even though this is an adaptation of an ongoing longplay I already know it's going to be Jesse/Sebastian because he was the only love interest character I had a weird meet-cute with and I'd already decided that was how I was going to pick who I pursued. I have my priorities.
> 
> [Photograph of the author from about 2009 when Mom was growing mammoth sunflowers](https://www.deviantart.com/golden-dragon-girl/art/Sunflowers-134986958)


End file.
